Hearts of Darkness
by carmilla35
Summary: Bella/Alice. AU. Bella is a vampire hunter and Alice is a mysterious nomad. Both women share a haunted past, but what happens when they decide to join together against a common enemy? Will their journey end in redemption? Or death?
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Just a few things. As you might've suspected from the summary, this fic is sort of an action/romance, and to suit the story I've made a couple changes to the vampire mechanics of the original novels. It's nothing major and it'll all be pretty much self-explanatory in the fic, but I thought I'd put a quick list here as a reference.**

**Firstly: vampires don't sparkle in the sun.**

**Secondly: vampires are still super-strong, but they don't move at the speed of light. A vampire could outrun a car but you could still see them moving.**

**Thirdly: vampires do NOT have any special gifts. Which means Alice can't see the future, Bella has no shield, and none of the Volturi have their special powers either.**

**Fourthly: vampires are still most vulnerable to fire, but they can also be killed by blood loss or physical trauma. Which means tearing the head off a vampire will kill it rather than just disable it. **

**Fifthly: when vampires are killed they turn to ash. For simplicity's sake their clothes burn up too. If you've ever seen the Blade movies you'll know the effect I'm thinking of.**

**Sixthly: vampire venom can be transmitted with diluted effects via saliva.**

**Anyway, that's about it. Here's the first chapter, hope you like it.**

Hearts of Darkness

Chapter 1: The Huntress

Bella was leaning on the railing of the bridge as they passed behind her. The water below was pure black, like a river of ink. The stars reflected in the opaque surface rippled in the current. The bridge was low and the river was narrow and she could see her own reflection trembling in the water too.

She could hear them behind her. The vampires. There were two of them, a male and a female, and they had a woman with them that they were planning to take under the bridge and drain and throw into the river. Bella didn't turn around. She gazed down into the oily water. The vampires and their prey passed, casting glances at her. She knew what she looked like. A pretty young woman in a tight top and short skirt. Long wavy black hair. Alone. A backpack slung over her shoulder, a runaway perhaps. The vampires shared a glance. The male called to her.

"Hey baby," he said in a silky smooth voice. "What's a pretty thing like you doing out here all alone?"

Bella turned to them. The vampires watched her with their crimson eyes. The male was tall and handsome with chocolate hair that fell messily about his face, and the female was a blonde with large breasts. Their prey, the woman, was drunk and she seemed quite put out that the male had stopped to speak to this stranger.

"My date stood me up," Bella said.

The female giggled. "Well don't worry, honey," she said, stepping forward to take Bella's arm. "The night's young. We'll keep you company."

The group of them continued across the bridge, passing under the yellow glare of the streetlamps. The air was cool and damp. A car passed in the street. The woman clung to the male vampire's arm, and the female vampire had wrapped her arm around Bella's waist and she was whispering seductively into her ear. Bella said nothing. She adjusted the strap of her backpack. It hung from her shoulder as if it were weighed with something far heavier than clothes. The vampires directed their prey down the concrete steps that led to the riverbank and they continued down the catwalk until they were underneath the bridge.

"Where's the hotel?" the drunk woman asked, looking about.

The male vampire only smiled. He took her by the shoulders and pressed her up against the brick wall and started kissing her. She didn't seem to mind. She wrapped both her arms around him and a leg too and started kissing him back.

The female vampire turned to Bella, her red lips curving into a sultry smile. "Tell me," she said. "Have you ever kissed a girl before?"

Bella didn't answer. She had unzipped her backpack and now she was reaching inside it.

"Oh, don't be shy," the female said, brushing Bella's cheek with the backs of her cold fingers. "You'll like it, I promise."

But Bella's charade was over. As the female leaned in for the kiss Bella bought out from the backpack a shotgun which she held at the waist and aimed upward so that the barrel touched the underside of the female's chin. The female froze, her lips perhaps an inch away from Bella's, the shotgun standing vertical between them. The shotgun was fitted with a plastic pistol stock and it had a black parkerized finish. It was fully automatic with a twenty-round drum magazine so there was no need to pump it. Bella dropped the backpack and put the other hand on the weapon. Her finger curled around the trigger. The female smiled and took a step backward to the edge of the catwalk. Behind her the river trickled past blackly.

"Silly girl," she said. "I don't know who you think you are, but I'm afraid you're in for a surprise. That weapon wouldn't even tickle me."

Bella leveled the shotgun at the female's face. "Incendiary rounds," she said, and then she fired.

She'd seen the doubt come into the female's eyes at the last moment but it came too late. Her head was blown off. The shotgun roared and a burst of fire licked out from the barrel like the muzzleflash of a cannon and then her head was blown off. No blood, no brainpulp, just ash. The female's headless body flailed there for a moment in a cloud of gunsmoke and then it pitched over backwards. Her skin went from a brilliant pearl to an ashen grey and before she'd even touched the water the carcass had flaked away in a fluttering of ash like sparks rising from a campfire.

The male and his prey were staring at Bella with wide eyes. Bella turned to them, the shotgun held loosely at her side.

"It's you, isn't it?" the male asked in a quavering voice. "The one they call The Huntress. It's you, isn't it?"

Bella didn't answer. She raised the shotgun.

The male sprung into action. He seized the drunk woman and grasped both her wrists and held her against him. He took a handful of her hair and wrenched back her head to expose her throat. The woman gasped and cried.

"Drop the gun," the male said. "Or I kill the girl."

"Kill her," Bella said. "She'd be infected anyway."

The male frowned in doubt. Then he threw the woman into the brick wall and charged at Bella. The woman collided into the bricks with a thumping sound and fell to the ground groaning. Perhaps Bella hesitated to fire because she thought the woman might get caught in the blast but the vampire closed the distance instantly and made a wild grasp for her throat. Bella swung the butt of the shotgun and knocked the hand away. The vampire recoiled and hissed in fury. Bella made to raise the shotgun but he grabbed the barrel with his hand and pushed it aside just as she fired and the burst of fire went into the water and sent up a large cloud of steam. She swung the shotgun toward him but he thrust the barrel into the wall. The blast blew a hole in the bricks and showered them with shrapnel. The vampire held the barrel away from his body and hissed viciously right into her face. Bella hadn't made a sound. She dropped the shotgun and seized the front of his shirt with one hand and the back of his head with the other and she pulled him toward her as if for a passionate kiss but what she did was sink her teeth into his neck and tear out his carotid artery.

The shotgun clattered to the concrete. The vampire reeled backward clutching at his neck. Black blood was seeping through his pale fingers and his eyes were wide and shaking. He gurgled. He looked about. He seemed unable to comprehend that he was about to die. Bella picked up her shotgun. He took a step toward her but she didn't flinch. He fell to his knees and slumped against the wall and sat there as the black blood soaked his clothes. He looked up. During the fight Bella had lost one of her contact lenses and the pupil beneath was red like a vampire. She raised the shotgun.

The drunk woman was just a moaning heap a few feet further along the catwalk. She was sniffling and tucking one of her tits back into her top. She put a hand in her hair where her head hurt and she looked up just in time to see the huntress fire three loads into the vampire slumped at her feet. The whole underside of the bridge lit up in the brilliant muzzleflash and the drunk woman's tear stained face flared three times and she watched opened mouthed as the vampire disintegrated into ash as his mate had done before him.

Bella lowered the weapon and regarded the crater in the bricks. Then she flicked the safety on the shotgun and turned and knelt at her backpack.

The drunk woman scrambled to her feet, smoothing down her skirt. "W-what," she stuttered, "what the hell were they?"

"Vampires," Bella said. "They were going to kill you."

The woman stared at Bella where she was stowing away the shotgun. "You saved me," she said. "Who are you?"

Bella didn't answer. She took a silenced pistol from the backpack and rose, slinging the pack over her shoulder. The woman looked at the pistol fearfully.

"Turn around," Bella said. "Face the water."

"Why?"

"Do it."

The woman swallowed and raised her hands even though she hadn't been asked. She turned around and looked down into the black water that was flowing by. She glanced over her shoulder. "Please," she said. "I don't—"

Bella shot her in the back of the head. The pistol jumped in her hand and the gunsmoke rolled. The woman fell forward and splashed into the water. She drifted downstream, facedown in the blackness, nameless and never to be remembered. Bella lowered the pistol. She bowed her head.

When she was climbing the concrete stairs that led back up to the sidewalk her cellphone buzzed. She took it from her skirt pocket and flipped it open. It was a text. _I'm waiting in Forks, Washington,_ it said. _I'm a vampire._

Bella frowned at the screen. Then she flipped it shut and stuck the phone back into her pocket and continued up the steps.

# # #

Alice rolled over and pulled the covers up over her shoulder. She gazed at the alarm clock. The aqua LED read 6:58. She didn't look like she'd been asleep but she didn't look tired either. Finally the alarm went off—it was tuned to a rock station—and she reached out and turned it off. She sat up in bed. She was wearing pink flannel pajamas that had a bunny rabbit print on them. She looked at the window where a grey light filtered in. Her short black hair was mussed from laying down. She sighed and hopped out of bed.

First thing she went for a shower. She made the water very warm and she took a long time, sponging herself down with a big purple loofa, washing her hair with vanilla scented shampoo. Humming to herself some pop song. When she got out she dried herself and wrapped the towel around her torso and went back to her room. She spent ten minutes pondering an outfit and decided on designer jeans and a black top and a black suede jacket. She sat on the edge of the bed and laced up her boots. There were textbooks on her desk from where she was studying last night and before she left she put them all in her bookbag. Already the light in the window was brighter.

She went downstairs with the tancolored satchel slung over her shoulder. In the kitchen she turned on the electric stove and set a frying pan on it and cracked some eggs into it. In a separate frying pan she fried a couple strips of bacon and she put some bread in the toaster and when the kettle was boiled she made some coffee with cream and sugar in a huge ceramic mug. When the food was done she arranged it all on a plate and set the plate on the kitchen table by the coffee. She looked at it all for a moment and cocked her head. She watched the food steam gently. Then she picked up the plate and took it over to the sink and flipped on the garbage disposal and scraped it all down the drain. She washed the dishes and tipped the coffee down the drain too and by then it was time to leave.

Outside it was cold but calm. The sky was overcast but it didn't look like it was going to rain. Alice lived in a house on the edge of town and it took quite a while to drive to school. She drove a silver Volvo, brand new and still fresh smelling. She had some pop albums in the CD player and as she drove she sang along. Songs of love and happiness, all the things she longed for. She sang along softly and gently and not without a certain sadness.

When she pulled up in the parking lot the place was already full. Kids were grouped around certain cars and trucks, standing about with their bookbags slung over their shoulders. Talking idly. Alice got her own bookbag from the passenger seat and got out the car and made toward the main building. There was a group of boys hanging around the entrance to the front office, five or six of them, and each one of them paused in their conversation to look at Alice. She was the prettiest girl in school, most would agree, and one of the nicest too. She had short black hair that she wore in feathery spikes and her skin was perfect white and very smooth looking and she carried herself with a lively grace that most girls could only dream of. Out loud the boys would exclaim over her tits and her ass but in truth it was her smile that was her most striking feature.

"Hey Alice," they said.

Alice flashed them a pretty smile. "Hi guys," she said. "Say, why don't one of you boys be a gentleman and get the door for me?"

She paused at the glass doubledoors, waiting, hand on the strap of her bookbag. The boys looked at one another. Three of them rushed forward but the one who pushed open the door was Mike Newton. Alice giggled and stepped through while he held it for her. "Thanks Mike," she said. "You're a doll."

Mike nodded awkwardly. "No problem."

Alice gave them one last smile and a little wave and then she went on down the corridor. The boys watched her go.

Homeroom was a dusty little classroom on the second floor. When Alice walked in she was chatting animatedly to her friends and they all took seats and continued chatting. When it was time for first period they were still chatting, strolling down the hallway with their books propped against their hips, chatting away. They only quieted down when the actual lesson began and even then they would be whispering back and forth at every opportunity.

By third period Alice had noticed that Jessica was acting a little weird. She'd snot at certain things Alice said and she didn't seem to be speaking to her as much as normal. They were in calculus and Alice was sitting next to Angela. Angela was bent over her textbook concentrating, mouthing the equations as she worked, and Alice leaned in and whispered: "Hey Angie, what's wrong with Jess? She's been giving me the silent treatment all morning."

Angela hesitated. She looked over her shoulder where Jessica was sitting in the row behind them, scribbling in her notebook. She leaned to Alice confidentially. "I think she's jealous," she whispered.

"Jealous? Of me?"

"Yep."

"Why?"

"You know how I always said that Jessica likes Mike?"

"Yeah."

"Well, Mike likes you. So…"

Alice rolled her eyes. "Oh come on," she whispered. "Mike's like that with all the girls, he doesn't like me in particular."

"No, no, no," Angela whispered with a schoolgirl's gravity. "That's just it, he _does_ like you. He told Tyler that he does, and Tyler told Eric, and Eric told me…"

"Mmhm. And who told Jess?"

Angela bit her lip. "Me," she said guiltily. "Sorry. It slipped out, I wasn't thinking."

Alice shook her head, smiling. "Wasn't thinking," she said. "You're such an airhead, Angie."

Soon it was lunchtime. Alice stood in line with her friends as they shuffled along with their trays, selecting their sandwiches, chatting. They all sat at their usual table and Alice was making a special effort to be nice to Jessica. "Hey Jess," she said. "You want my chocolate milk? I don't feel like it anymore."

Jessica eyed her suspiciously. "You sure?"

"Of course. Here, take it. I want you to have it."

"Whatever," Jessica said. She took the carton and jabbed a straw through the opening. She nodded at Alice's untouched tray. "Why do you even bother ordering lunch when you never eat it?"

"I don't know," Alice said. "I just like to order it."

Angela watched the tray over the top of her sandwich. "Can I have the chips?" she asked, already reaching.

They had PE after lunch. They played volleyball, and Alice and Mike were on opposing teams. They were all wearing their PE clothes, white t-shirts and navy shorts, an outfit more flattering to the girls than the boys. Somehow the t-shirts were tighter on the girls, the shorts more short. Alice was bobbing on the balls of her feet right up close to the net so that she could spike anything that came her way and it was Mike's turn to serve. He stood at the edge of the court with the ball in his hands. He went to hit it when his eyes fell on Alice through the black nylon net. He got distracted. He hit the ball but his hand glanced off it and the ball went caroming sideways. It didn't even clear the net. His own team sent up a loud groan and the other team laughed. Alice only smiled.

When the class was over Mike and Alice were assigned to take down the nets and pack them away. They folded them up like bedsheets, stretching them out with Mike at one end and Alice at the other and then they walked toward each other and bought the two ends together folding it in half. When they had finished packing them all away in the storage closet they wandered back out into the gym.

"So, uh," Mike said. "You know, I was thinking that maybe me and you could go out sometime. After school or on the weekend or something."

Alice turned to him. "You mean like a date?"

"Sure," Mike said. "Like a date."

Alice thought about it. She thought about Jessica's jealousy and she thought about her duty as a friend. She thought about how smitten Mike was with her and how disappointed he'd be if she said no. She thought about how much she'd like to have a boyfriend, someone to hold hands with and laugh with and go to the movies with. Then she thought about everything else, her past, her future, her ultimate destination in eternity, and she knew a relationship with the boy in front of her was impossible. Disguising her true sadness, Alice put on a cute but apologetic face. "Sorry Mike," she said. "I'd love too, really, but I don't know how much longer I'm going to be in town. My dad's been talking about this job in Oregon…"

Mike seemed disappointed but eager not to make Alice feel bad. "Oh, that's okay," he said, forcing a smile. "Don't worry about it, I just thought it would be fun."

"I'm sorry."

"It's alright. Well, uh, I guess I'll see you later."

"Okay. See you, Mike."

When Alice walked into the girl's locker room she found a fresh batch of girls already there getting dressed for the next class. Nobody bothered showering this late in the day and neither did Alice. She hadn't perspired anyway, nor had she at any moment run out of breath. She stepped into the locker room and wove among the stripping girls to where she'd left her clothes folded on a bench and started to get changed. She stole a glance at the blonde beside her and watched her pull off her top. Underneath she was wearing a skyblue bra that looked wonderful against her peachcolored skin and Alice looked away quickly. Anybody who'd seen her glance might've thought she was jealous and they'd be right. But it wasn't the girl's bra-size she was envious of. It was her humanity. The visible softness of her, the warmth. Alice's own skin was snow white and smooth like marble, so perfect it looked as if it were painted on. She would've given anything to look healthy and vibrant like other girls. That's what she wanted more than anything. To be like other girls.

There was only one more class after PE. Alice sat through it with a growing feeling of foreboding. She sat by the window, gazing out. There was a tree out there with a bird idling upon a branch that turned to her and cocked it's head and blinked its little black eyes. Alice smiled and it flew away.

Out in the parking lot she said goodbye to her friends. Angela was her bestfriend and before they parted Alice gave her a hug. A wind picked up and tussled their hair.

"So we still on for Saturday?" Angela asked.

"Of course," Alice said. "I can't wait."

Jessica was waiting for Angela over by her car. "Angela!" she called. "Hurry up, we gotta go!"

Angela started walking backwards. "Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Alice?"

"It's okay. See you tomorrow."

"Are you sure? You can come if you want."

"It's okay. Bye, Angie."

Angela smiled and waved a hand. "See you, Alice."

Alice watched them. Angela turned to Jessica and the two of them started bickering playfully. Angela got into the passenger seat and Jessica got into the driver's seat and the car started and pulled away. Alice watched them go. She had the feeling that she'd never see either of them again but she got that feeling a lot.

.

It was dark when Bella drove into Forks. Dark and starless. She pulled in at the motel and got a room. On the bed she dumped out the contents of her backpack. She picked up the shotgun and took it into the bathroom with her and left it resting on the sink while she showered. She left the shower curtain open, water spraying on the tiles. When she got out she wrapped herself in a towel and took the shotgun back into the bedroom.

She spread a green cloth on the bed and laid her weapons on it, the shotgun, the pistol, a hunting knife, a few other things. From a side compartment in the backpack she got out a cleaning kit and arranged the instruments and bottles of oils by the side of the cloth. She was still dressed in only the towel, her black hair hanging wet and limp. She sat cross-legged before the cloth and started dissembling the weapons. She cleaned and wiped the bores. She checked the cartridges. She refit rounds into all the clips. She sat with her back straight, holding the components to the yellow light of the bulb in the ceiling. She reassembled the pistol and flicked the safety. She held it out in one hand and squinted down the sights. She swung her arm, taking aim at various objects in the room, the potted fern, the lampshade, the bathroom door. She pulled the trigger. It made a dull clicking sound.

By now there was a grey light behind the lace curtains of the window and her hair was dry. Bella had been wiping her hands on the towel she wore and it was smeared with blacking. She rose from the bed and shed the towel and left it on the carpet. Then she unzipped a secret compartment in the floor of the backpack and took out a thin stainless steel box about the size of a pencil case. She laid it on the bed and flipped it open. Inside was a set of syringes and a vial of serum. Bella took out the vial and one of the syringes and bought them to the bathroom and set them on the rim of the sink. She washed her hands and shook them dry and then she slipped the needle of the syringe through the vial's seal. The serum was a pale pink color and she watched the glass barrel fill. When it was full she set aside the vial and depressed the plunger slightly until a bead formed on the tip of the needle. Then she flicked it twice with her finger.

She gripped the syringe in her fist with her thumb over the plunger. She positioned it over her chest, just above her heart. The skin puckered against the needle for a moment before it pierced. Bella closed her eyes and depressed the plunger all the way. Her naked chest rose and fell in one big breath. When she opened her eyes they'd gone from their usual chocolate color to a vampiric red.

When she set out in the grey morning she left the truck in the motel parking lot. She went on foot dressed in jeans and a hoody with the backpack slung over her shoulder. The sun was rising bleakly beyond a skyline of trees and she went down the sidewalk with her head down and hood up, casting her crimson eyes from side to side.

According to her information the vampire lived in a house on the edge of town. It was noon by the time Bella got there. She came around the bend in the road and she could see the house in the distance. It was large and stately, cited on a rise overlooking the road, silhouetted against the grey sky. Silent. Isolated. Behind it nothing but woods. Bella adjusted the strap of her backpack and crunched up the gravel driveway. She paused at the mailbox and looked inside. Empty. She went up the to front door and knocked. She paused. She knocked again. She tried the doorknob but it was locked. She went around the side of the house and tried the back door but it was locked too. There was no evidence of a security system so in the end she simply broke open one of the back windows with her bare hand. The jagged shards of glass didn't even scratch her.

It was dark inside. She climbed in and closed the window behind her. She was in the living room. In the gloom she could make out a creamcolored sofa and a plasma TV and a glass coffee table. A fireplace. An oilpainting over the mantle depicting a scenic sunset. She went upstairs, climbing the carpeted steps silently, the shotgun held loosely at her waist. She went down the hall and checked the rooms one by one. There were lots of bedrooms but most of them were bare. The master bedroom was at the end of the hall. Bella turned the doorknob slowly and eased it open with the barrel of the shotgun. There was no one inside it.

She stood in the doorway and surveyed the room. The bed was queensize with a lace canopy. A set of pink flannel pajamas was laid over the covers. The closet was open and there were clothes hanging in there. Bella closed her eyes and inhaled. She could smell the vampire. Vanilla and lavender. She stepped into the room and approached the bed. She pulled back the covers. The sheets were slightly rumpled underneath. It appeared slept in. She picked up the pillow and smelled it. The vampire had slept in the bed. Or at least lain there. Bella thought about that.

The closet was polished walnut with a pretty inlay. Bella opened both doors and held the shotgun in one hand at her side while she rummaged through the clothes with her other hand. They were all girl's clothes. She took down a pair of jeans and examined the label for a size. She put the jeans back and took down a yellow sundress. She held the dress up and smelled it and then she held the dress against her own body to try and get an idea of the vampire's physiology. Then she put the dress back.

She went over to the vanitytable and laid the shotgun on it with a soft clatter. Strewn over the tabletop were more cosmetics and makeups than she knew the uses of. Perfumes, skincreams. A whole colony of little nail varnish bottles. She picked up a couple and examined them. Rose pink. Toxic green. She put the bottles down and opened the top drawer. There were socks in it. Hairbrushes. Hairclips. She closed it and opened the next one. It was filled with underwear. Mostly plain cotton. There were some lace articles in the back, bras and panties in matched sets. Black lace, white lace, purple lace. Bella sifted through them. She closed the drawer and glanced up at her hooded reflection in the mirror. She might've looked like any burglar or stalker if it wasn't for the lethal looking eyes that glowed redly under her hood.

The bathroom was white tile and spotlessly clean. Marble bathtub with a gold swanshaped faucet. The shower was a glass cubicle in the corner. Bella slid open the glass door and looked inside. There were shampoos and conditioners sitting in wire racks. A loofa hanging from a cord around the tap. She looked down and saw that the tiles were wet around the drain. Someone had showered recently. She touched the loofa were it dangled and held it to her nose briefly.

She went downstairs and into the kitchen. She placed the shotgun on the breakfast counter and opened the refrigerator. A bright light inside. Shelves of food, fruit and vegetables. Nothing rotten. No meat. She took a carton of milk from the top shelf and opened it and sniffed. She took a sip. It was still fresh. Which meant the vampire was buying regular groceries. For some reason. She put the milk back and closed the refrigerator door.

One by one she checked all the other rooms. Wandering through the house with the shotgun at her waist like some homicidal housekeeper. Finally she went back into the living room and put her backpack on the coffeetable and laid the shotgun beside it. She sat on the sofa and pulled her hood down and flicked her hair out. Then she lay her head on the armrest and curled up and closed her eyes.

There was a grandfather clock against the wall that she could hear ticking loudly. She didn't sleep. When she heard a car pull up in the gravel driveway outside she opened her eyes. The roman numerals of clockface read quarter till six. She rose and took up her shotgun and went over to the front door. She saw someone small moving behind the frosted glass window. She heard keys rattle in the lock. She lifted the shotgun. She left her hood down.

The door opened and the vampire seemed surprised to see someone standing there with a shotgun. She blinked. "I thought I smelt something nice," she said.

The first thing Bella noticed was her eyes. They weren't red. They were amber. But the rest of her looked vampiric enough. "Get in," she said. "Close the door. And don't make the mistake of assuming this weapon can't hurt you."

The vampire came in and shut the door. She looked at Bella. Bella looked at her.

"Who are you?" Bella asked.

The vampire smiled. "My name's Alice. Mary Alice Brandon."

"Who are you?"

"I'm just Alice."

Bella raised the shotgun to her face. "Do you know who I am?"

"Mmhm. You're the one they call The Huntress."

"How did you get my phone number?"

"Someone told me."

"Who?"

"What difference does it make?"

They fell silent. Neither looked away from each other's eyes.

"Aren't you curious why I sent you the message?" Alice asked.

"I know why."

"Why?"

"Where are your friends?"

"What friends?"

"The one's you called me here to meet. The one's waiting in ambush."

"You think I'm trying to set you up?"

"Yes. I do. Why else would a vampire send me a message like that?"

"Maybe the vampire had a proposition she wanted to discuss."

"Or maybe she's only saying that to buy some time."

Alice smiled. She tossed her keys on the sideboard. "You know," she said. "I'm surprised. For some reason I didn't expect you to have long hair."

Bella didn't reply.

"Or red eyes."

Still no reply.

"I didn't expect you to be so pretty either."

Bella's eyes narrowed.

Alice cocked her head. "Am I what you expected?"

"I expected a vampire and that's what I see," Bella said. "Now for the last time. Who are you?"

"I told you. I'm just Alice. And all I want to do is talk. Okay? You can keep your shotgun thingy, if you want."

"You want to talk, huh?"

"Mmhm."

"Okay. Start talking."

"Can we sit?"

"Why?"

"Why not?"

"You better start talking, or this conversation—"

"Shh!"

Alice raised a hand for silence and Bella almost shot her at the suddenness of the movement. The vampire stood with her face averted, listening to something in the distance. Bella couldn't hear anything.

.

Outside it was almost sunset. In the woods behind the house there was a unit of redeyed vampires weaving fast and low among the trees, ten of them, a dozen, leaping over upturned roots, darting across the rocks. They were all dressed identically in black suits with white shirts and black ties and they all had the letter V burnt into their necks like a brand. The birds roosting in the branches above fled at the sight of them, fluttering up into the orange sky and soaring away with thin cries.

.

"They've found me," Alice said.

Bella's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Agents of the Volturi," Alice said. "They've found me."

Bella lowered the shotgun slightly. Alice moved and she raised it again but the vampire didn't seem to notice. She walked past Bella, Bella swinging the shotgun after her, and then she started up the stairs. Bella followed. They went up the stairs and Alice continued down the corridor till she came to the window at the end of it. The window overlooked the backyard and she bent to look out. A toolshed and a greenhouse stood off to the side and there were hedgerows out there and a birdbath and beds of well-tended flowers and the shadows were long in the sunset. Bella came up behind her just in time to see the blacksuited vampires emerging like shades from the darkened treeline beyond the yard.

Bella stepped back and put the shotgun to the back of Alice's head. "I knew this was a set up."

Alice didn't turn around. Her voice was curiously bland. "They're not after you," she said.

"So it's just coincidence that I happened to pop in?"

"Coincidence, fate. Call it what you want."

"It doesn't matter. The more vampires dead the better."

Alice turned to her. "We didn't get to talk."

"You'll get your chance," Bella said, lowering the shotgun. "I'm going to take care of your friends first, then I'm coming for you. I want answers."

"These aren't ordinary vampires. They're trained agents of the Volturi. I can help you."

Bella didn't reply. She took a few steps backward and then she dashed forward and leapt right through the window.

The vampires were crossing the yard when they looked up at the sound of the crash. Bella soared through the air in a rain of shattered glass, her long black hair flaring out behind her, and she landed on the cobbled garden path and rolled forward and came up in a kneeling position and raised the shotgun. The two closest vampires leapt the flowerbeds to get to her and she swung the shotgun and blasted them each in the chest and a third vampire leapt the birdbath and dove at her in a snarling of fangs and gnashing of teeth and she raised the shotgun and fired. The vampire's ashes sprinkled down upon her and drifted away in the wind. Bella rose to her feet and started sprinting toward the cover of the woods. The vampires glared at the house and then they chased after her.

Alice watched it all from the broken window. She laid a hand on the shattered frame.

Bella ran, the moss covered trees blurring past. She glanced over her shoulder and saw several hostiles in pursuit. She jumped over upturned roots and tumbled through some shrubbery and up ahead there was a tall rock bluff which she scaled in a series of graceful leaps, jumping from ledge to ledge, shelf to shelf, nimble and quick as a little doe in her going. At the top of the bluff she turned and opened fire as the vampires scrambled up the rocks behind her. She been hoping to kill most of them but they were quick and she didn't have the element of surprise anymore. She fired seven loads and hit three targets, each of them exploding in ash and fire, and she swung the shotgun at the first of them to leap up next to her but she wasn't quick enough. He tackled her to the ground and they went tumbling to the dirt, the shotgun skittering across the rocks behind them. The vampire held her down and hissed and bared it's fangs and then it tore back her hoody and swooped to her neck and bit into it.

Bella grimaced but made no sound. She had turned away at the last moment to avoid a lethal bite and the vampire's teeth sunk into the flesh at the base of her neck. She twisted violently and thrashed him off her body and sprung backwards. She dove for her shotgun and rolled over with it just as he leapt at her with his bloody mouth. She fired and blew him away and through the cloud of ash she could see the rest of the vampires scrambling over the edge of the bluff. She staggered to her feet and fired a few loads in their direction as she turned and sprinted away into the trees.

It was getting dark and she fought a running engagement deeper into the woods. She splashed through a stream and heard them splashing after her. She fired over her shoulder. So far she'd fired sixteen shells and killed nine vampires. There were still four left that she knew of and only four shells remaining in the magazine. She couldn't afford to waste any more shells and she could already feel the stinging of venom in her neck. It occurred to her that if these vampires had weapons like hers they might've killed her already. And after she thought that she thought that they might kill her anyway.

There was a clearing up ahead and she decided to make a stand. A doe that was grazing there looked up and froze as Bella dove into the grass beside her and whirled around on one knee and lifted the shotgun to the trees she'd emerged from. The vampires didn't follow. They'd been right on her heels but they didn't follow her into the clearing. Bella swept the sights of the shotgun along the treeline but she could see nothing. She sniffed. But she was upwind. She listened. A shuffle of leaves. A twig snapping.

The doe was frozen beside her but at the sound of the snapping twig it bolted. It scrabbled wildly in the grass and ran into the trees and then it screamed. There was a wet ripping sound and it screamed. Bella swung the shotgun to the sound but there was nothing there. Just shadows. She scanned the treeline again and now she saw them. A pair of red eyes glowing evilly in the gloom. She would've fired but the distance would thin the blast and she was waiting for a sure shot. The eyes lowered and rose again and then they crept forward. Bella knew that the others were closing in from different directions. She stood slowly and listened. Her neck was throbbing. The wind whistled in the leaves and then they struck.

The one behind her came first. She heard him darting across the grass and she spun around and shot him. Two more came at her from either side and she swung to the one on her right but he kicked the shotgun clean from her hands. Before she could react the one on her left took a handful of her hair from behind and pulled her back and punched her in the face. She went to the grass. They stomped on her head. They kicked her in the stomach. She made a strangled whimper and tried to raise up but they kicked her again.

When they forced her to her knees the third one came sauntering from the treeline. The other two were gripping her arms and holding her down. She squirmed and tried to get free but when she saw the third one pick up her own shotgun she stopped struggling. She glared down into the grass.

The vampire examined the shotgun and hefted it in his hands. He stepped up to the huntress and pointed it at her head.

"Hey," said a voice behind them. "You forgot about me."

It was Alice voice and when Bella heard it her eyes widened. The one with the shotgun spun around. Alice stepped slowly from the treeline and skipped forward a few paces and charged at him. The vampire snarled and raised the shotgun and fired. Alice went low under the blast and crossed the ground in the manner of a cheetah or a panther and before the vampire could fire again she leapt at him. She jumped onto him and locked her legs around his waist like a lover and then she grabbed his head and tore it off. She rode him to the ground and rolled aside as the body disintegrated in the grass and the head in her hands flaked away into ash.

Bella was staring. The two vampire's holding her down released her and turned hissing to Alice. Alice by contrast was smiling. They came at her and she fended them away with graceful evasion and artful dodging. They couldn't seem to touch her. Bella stared. She might've made for the shotgun but she was mesmerized. Finally Alice killed them. She took one of them by the hand and pulled him toward her like a dance partner, a deadly tango. She set her other hand at the nape of his neck almost tenderly and then she stepped onto her toes and bit into his throat as if she'd meant to kiss him there. An elegant kill. He fell away gurgling with black blood gushing and his skin already turning grey. The remaining vampire seemed frozen. Alice turned to him smiling a black smile. He turned to flee into the woods but Alice chased him and jumped onto his back and rode him to the dirt and straddling his back she took two handfuls of his hair and wrenched off his head.

Bella was still kneeling there staring. Something about what she'd seen had taken her breath away. Alice rose and dusted herself off and wiped her mouth. She turned to the huntress and smiled. As if she were glad to see she was safe. She walked over and picked up the shotgun. Wordlessly she held it by the barrel and offered the stock to Bella and Bella took it and rose to her feet.

# # #

They went back to the house. Alice sat Bella on the rim of the bathtub and cleaned and swabbed out the bite wound on her neck. Bella's hoody was tossed on the floor and she held the shotgun in her lap. Pointed away from Alice. All her other wounds had regenerated by now, it was just the venom that lingered. A pale pink fluid was still leaking from the torn flesh and every so often Alice would wipe at it with a handtowel. "Does it sting?" she asked.

Bella had her face averted. "No."

Alice smiled. As if she thought Bella was just being brave. "I'm almost finished," she said, bending again to the wound.

The first aid kit was open on the counter beside them. When Alice was done cleaning the bite she taped a medicalpad over the wound and then she unraveled some gauze. "Hold up your hair," she said. Bella gathered up her hair in both hands and held it up as Alice passed the roll of gauze around her neck and started taping it up nice and tight. Alice was watching her work and then her eyes flickered to Bella's. "Can I ask you a question?"

"What?"

"How come your eyes are red? You're obviously not a vampire."

Bella didn't answer for a moment. "I use a serum before missions," she said. "A serum that simulates a vampire's powers."

"Oh. When will your eyes go back to normal?"

Bella's expression hardened. "You mean when will the serum wear off? Don't worry. I'll be long gone before that happens. I'd rather kill myself then let myself become vulnerable in the company of a vampire."

Alice didn't answer. She wrapped her neck and tore off the gauze and touched the wound briefly with her hand. "There," she said. "All done."

Alice turned to the firstaid kit. Bella touched the rough gauze at her neck and frowned slightly.

When Alice turned around Bella was pulling on her hoody.

"Do you want to know why my eyes are yellow?" Alice asked.

"I know why."

"Why then?"

"Because you don't kill humans."

Alice smiled. "That's right. I don't."

.

Bella stood at the coffeetable in the living room. She hadn't flipped on the light and it was dark. She ejected the spent magazine from the shotgun and got a fresh one from the backpack and fitted it in. There was a draft in the room from the broken window. The lace drapes fluttering in the cool night wind. Bella turned the shotgun in her hands and checked the safety. She flicked it on.

When she went into the kitchen she found Alice standing at the sink chopping up vegetables on a cutting board. Fifteen minutes later Bella was sitting at the far end of the polished oak dinning table and Alice set in front of her a plate of vegetable stir-fry and handed her a fork. Bella sat holding the fork awkwardly, watching the food steam. The shotgun lay beside the plate like an monstrous dinner knife. Alice got a bottle of water from the refrigerator and filled a glass and set it in front of Bella. Then she pulled out the chair opposite and sat down and pushed herself in and smiled.

"Well go on," she said, gesturing at Bella's plate. "Humans got to eat, don't they?"

Bella frowned at the fork. She stabbed a piece of broccoli and put it in her mouth.

"It's nice cooking for someone," Alice said. "Usually I end up throwing it all out. I used to bake biscuits and take them to school for my friends, but I stopped doing that. I think they thought I was weird."

"Why bother?"

"Why bother what?"

"Pretending to be human."

"I don't know. I guess I just wanted to have a normal life. Even if I knew it wouldn't last. Wouldn't you like to have a normal life?"

Bella didn't answer.

Alice looked over at the stove wistfully. "I'd like to have a normal life."

Bella looked at her. She stabbed up a slice of carrot. "You said you wanted to talk," she said. "So start talking."

"It's simple really. I wanted to propose a partnership."

Bella paused with the fork halfway to her mouth. "What?"

"You heard me," Alice said, smiling. "A partnership. I want to be a vampire slayer just like you."

"I thought you wanted a normal life."

"I did. Or do. But, as you've seen tonight, a normal life is impossible for me. And since we share a common enemy I thought we might pool our efforts. It makes sense, doesn't it? The enemy of your enemy is your friend. I think I heard that on a TV show one time."

"What enemy?"

"The Volturi."

Bella looked at her. She shuffled the food about the plate. "Why exactly are the Volturi after you?"

"It's not important. Their grudge against me doesn't factor into my motivations against them."

"And what are your motivations?"

Alice gave a sad little smile. "It's a secret. But among my reasons is the desire to atone. I committed some terrible sins as a newborn. In recent years I've developed a mastery of my thirst but there was a time when I killed countless humans. Countless. More than the average newborn. Much more. I tried to forgive myself. I tried to tell myself that it wasn't my fault. That I never asked to be a vampire. But if I'm not to blame then who is? There is no one else. No one but me. I have no delusions of living happily ever after, but when I die I hope to at least die absolved. I hope to have removed more evil from the world than I bought into it. That's one of my reasons, anyway."

Bella tapped the fork on the plate. The vampire was staring down at the tabletop. Bella glanced at the shotgun. "A partnership," she said.

"Mm."

"You'd be a valuable asset."

"Is that a yes?"

"No. It's a statement. Who gave you my phone number?"

"I don't know. It was sent to me anonymously."

"Do you know my name?"

"No. But I'd like too."

Bella sighed. She put the fork on the plate and pushed the plate away. She hadn't ate much.

"What's the matter?" Alice asked.

Bella shook her head. Beyond the kitchen window was nothing but blackness. "It's Bella," she said. "My name's Bella."

Alice smiled. "Bella," she said. "That's nice."

Bella crossed her arms. She was practically glaring across the table, looking for anything false in the vampire's expression. But there was nothing. Alice simply smiled back with a girlish boldness, as if daring the other woman to think her anything but sweet and charming. This was a vampire that had saved her life. A vampire who'd handed her back her own weapon. A vampire who'd treated her wounds and cooked for her. There was no reason in the world to mistrust her and yet the fact remained that she was a vampire.

"Tell me something," Bella said.

"What?"

"Why would you trust me?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"Because. I've devoted my entire life to killing your kind. And, yellow eyes or not, it wouldn't take much for me to kill you too. The only reason I haven't done it already is because you may be useful to me. That's the only reason. I don't feel sorry for you and I don't care if you don't kill humans. A vampire is a vampire and the nature of a vampire doesn't allow for special cases. All of them are evil and unnatural without exception. Now, knowing all that, I'll ask again. Why would you trust me?"

Alice smiled and made a little shrugging gesture. "Let's just say I have nothing to lose."

Bella looked at her.

"Besides," Alice said. "I don't want to be alone anymore."

.

While Bella was showering Alice sat on the bed rifling through her backpack. She examined the pistol, the hunting knife. When she reached in again she came out with a white rosary which she held briefly to the light. It dangled in her hand and the beads rattled softly. Bella was using the adjoining bathroom and Alice could hear the water. She glanced past the rosary at the bathroom door. The water turned off. She tucked the rosary away in the backpack.

Bella wiped the bathroom mirror with her hand. She appeared in the blurry reflection naked with her hair hanging wetly. The shotgun lay across the sink and she had the thin steel box in her hands. Her eyes had faded to a pale pink during dinner and she paused for a moment. Thinking. Then she unlatched the box and took up a syringe.

When Bella came out of the bathroom her eyes were bright crimson. Alice was still sitting on the bed with the backpack. "You got some pretty cool stuff," she said.

They left that night. They didn't go back into town, they took the road north. On foot, down the darkened blacktop. Each with a backpack slung over their shoulder, Bella's a simple black nylon, Alice's a trendy tan suede. Bella in her baggy hoody, Alice in her designer jeans. It was dark and silent and they tramped along by the side of the road in just such silence themselves. A car passed them going the other way. Their eyes flashed in the headlights, crimson and amber, and driver swerved slightly. The headlights passed on and the vampire and the huntress once more dissolved into the darkness which so well became them.

# # #


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Just so you know, I went back and edited chapter one a little to make it more clear why Bella shot the woman in the opening scene. It's because, in this story, vampire venom can be transmitted via saliva. The purpose of that scene was to establish Bella as an anti-hero, but rest assured: Bella is not evil, she's just cold-blooded.**

**BTW, this story is **_**completely**_** AU, which means everything's changed. Forget what you know about the original novels, because this is all different. Also, there's no wolves in this fic, and only some of the other Cullens will be appearing. Bella and Alice are the main characters, and when Jane's introduced she'll be a main character as well.**

**Anyway, thank you for the reviews/favs/alerts. Here's the next chapter, hope you like it.**

Hearts of Darkness

Chapter 2: A day's work

Laurent swirled the red wine in the glass he held in his hand. The nightclub was loud and rowdy. The lights and lasers playing over the clubbers and the deafening music thumping in his eardrums. He sat alone with his glass of wine, and he sat watching it swirl but he did not drink. The table was on the balcony overlooking a smoky dancefloor and when he looked over he could see James and Victoria down there dancing together. James wore his darkblonde hair in a short ponytail and Victoria's scarlet locks spilled about her bare and pale shoulders like flames. She wore a red dress that left very little to the imagination and she slouched against her partner in a rather salacious manner, grinding up against his thigh, her tongue flicking out to lick his neck. People were watching, and not many in disgust. Over Victoria's shoulder James spied a blonde eyeing them from the bar. When their eyes met the blonde looked away blushing. When she looked back James was still staring at her. He whispered something in Victoria's ear. Victoria's lips curved into a smile and she turned to look at the blonde too.

Laurent shook his head and turned his eyes to the wine. He raised the glass to his nose, closed his eyes, and inhaled. When he opened them again there was an attractive brunette leaning over his table. Laurent had beautiful black hair and rich dark skin and the brunette's eyes roamed him quite approvingly. "Hey baby," she said. "Want some company?"

Laurent appeared to consider. She wore tight jeans and a mintgreen tubetop and as he looked her over she dipped her eyes to his pants so he was sure to notice. No stranger to a one night stand, this one. Laurent smiled and shook his head. "Not tonight, my dear," he said. "Not tonight."

She shrugged and flicked her hair over her shoulder. "Suit yourself," she said, and then strutted away into the further gloom of the nightclub.

# # #

They went down the sidewalk in the rain, Bella and Alice, raindrops the size of marbles spattering noisily in the street and on the roofs of cars. The sky was grey and heavy as far as you could see and Bella had her hood pulled up over her head but the hoody was fleece and she was soaked through within minutes. Alice paused to buy an umbrella from a streetvendor, holding her satchel over her head like a peculiar hat, fairly yelling at the salesman over the roar of the rain. Bella strode on but soon Alice was jogging after her and they went on huddled together under the umbrella.

They came to the public library where they trotted up the wet stone steps and went inside. Bella sat at a computer and Alice leaned over her shoulder. "There's a coven of nomads currently based here in Seattle," Bella said. "I've been meaning to hit them the next time I was in the area. Now's as good as time as any."

"Are they Volturi?"

"No. They're just nomads."

Bella clicked a few times, typed in a couple passwords. A photograph popped up on the screen.

"This is them," Bella said. The photograph depicted four people exiting a nightclub. It was hi-res and the vampires were caught mid expression. It looked like the kind of picture taken by some private investigator or paparazzi hiding in the bushes. "The guy with the ponytail calls himself James," Bella said. "The redhead's his mate, Victoria. The other guy's known as Laurent."

"And the girl?"

"A victim."

Alice frowned. "Where'd the picture come from?"

"A colleague."

Alice looked at her. She looked at the picture. "And they're not Volturi?"

"No," Bella said, leaning back in the chair. "It'll be a simple job, bordering on pointless, but think of it as practice. If you're serious about going up against the Volturi, we'd better have at least some idea of how we function as a team."

Alice nodded but she looked a bit troubled. Bella glanced at her and then turned back to the screen, clicked a few more times, and rose to fetch the printouts.

It was almost dark by the time they got to the hotel. Alice paused under the awning to shake out the umbrella and Bella pushed on through the revolving doors. The lobby was large and echoey and a crystal chandelier hung shimmering from the moldered ceiling. A low din of voices and click of shoeheels on the polished floor. Bella was leaning on the oak frontdesk when Alice came in. "Just a single," Bella told the clerk.

"And how long will you be staying?"

"Make it a week."

They rode the elevator to their room. Bella opened the door with the keycard and they went in and tossed their backpacks on the carpet. There was a doublebed, a sofa, a TV. Everything clean and cream colored. Bella went over to the window and opened the curtains. It was raining so hard she could barely see out. It was dark and grey and the streetlamps had just come on. Alice sidled up beside her.

"Um, this might be a silly question," she said. "But if there's only one bed, where am I supposed to sleep?"

"Vampires don't sleep."

"Well not technically, but I still like to lay down."

"You can have the bed if you want."

"What about you?"

"What about me?"

"Don't you have to sleep?"

"Not as long as I have serum."

"I guess that means you won't be eating either."

"No."

"Rats. I was looking forward to watching you eat."

Bella glanced at her.

"What?" Alice asked innocently. "It's one of my things. I like watching people eat."

They took turns in the shower and Alice ordered Bella some room service and they sat on the bed in their bathrobes and sifted through the printouts from the library while Bella ate and Alice watched. They'd blowdried their rainsoaked clothes and the clothes hung in the closet on wire hangers. Alice lifted one the printouts and looked at it. "You know," she said, "I always thought you were a lone wolf sort of character. I didn't know you had friends who helped you out."

"They're not friends," Bella said. "They're associates."

"Ah."

Bella started gathering up the papers in a pile. "I work alone, but like any field operative I wouldn't get very far without a handler."

Soon it was midnight. Alice was in bed, laying on her side with the covers pulled up to her chin. Bella sat at the desk cleaning her shotgun. When she had it reassembled she looked over her shoulder. At Alice, at Alice's pale face. She stood up and carried the shotgun over to the window. She pulled back the curtains and looked out. It was still raining and she could see nothing. She turned to the bed. Then she set the shotgun on the sideboard by the alarm clock and crawled under the covers in her bathrobe. Alice felt Bella's weight tilt the mattress and smiled. They lay there in bed on their sides facing away from each other. They listened to the traffic in the street, the patter of rain on the window. Their eyes were closed.

"Bella?" Alice whispered.

"What?"

"What are we doing tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow we're going shopping."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

Alice smiled and pulled the covers up over her shoulder. "Cool."

# # #

When Laurent left the nightclub he went wandering through the city. Ambling along the sidewalks in the rain, no particular destination in mind. After a while he found his way to the seedier districts of the city where the whores called to him from the streetcorners they stalked. Where they prowled through the rain in their miniskirts and fishnets, the cheap nylon wigs they wore clinging wetly to their heads. Mascara running down their cheeks like black tears. Laurent smiled at them and nodded them a good evening and passed on.

Strolling through the ceaseless rain, scanning the sky from time to time for stars but there were no stars. He passed a chainlink fence where a dripping dog ran alongside yapping and snarling. He passed the ruins of apartment complex where a child's doll lay in a pool among the rubble. He passed the mouth of an alley where a circle of bums stood with their hands outheld to a oildrum where a fire hissed in the rain and by and by he found himself at the bus station.

The clock mounted in the wall marked the time as four in the morning. There were few people about. A bus had just pulled up in the terminal and one or two people got out toting bags or suitcases. There was a drunk passed out on one of the benches and Laurent stood looking down at him, his expression halfway between amusement and pity. The drunk slept using a box of wine as a pillow and sheets of newspaper as blankets. Bearded, filthy, stinking, flies crawling over the rancid clothes he wore. Laurent shook his head. He went to adjust one of the newspaper sheets like a mother reaching into a crib when the drunk woke. Through the greasy crags of his eyesockets he saw the man looming over him and recoiled, squealed hysterically like a frightened pig.

Laurent held up his hands and smiled. "Easy, friend," he said. "I mean you no harm."

But the drunk seemed not to hear. He drew back into the bench, gibbering mindlessly, clutching the box of wine to his chest. Laurent shook his head and looked about and then he took a seat beside him. The drunk was wheezing and rocking back and forth like an asthmatic mental patient. "Didn't do it," he moaned, sniffling. "Didn't do it."

"Didn't do what, my friend?"

The drunk squeezed his eyes shut. He stank from wine and urine and shit. "Didn't do it," he gibbered. "Didn't, didn't, didn't."

Laurent smiled and looked out over the station. A busdriver went by in a slateblue uniform holding his hat in one hand. Laurent nodded to him and the busdriver frowned and went on. They must've made an odd pair, sitting there side by side on the bench. The drunk in his rags, Laurent in black silk. The drunk had taken the bladder out of the winebox and was sucking at it noisily. Laurent looked at him and shook his head.

"Tell me friend," Laurent said. "Do you have any family or close friends? A wife? Children, perhaps? Anyone at all who would care if you were to be somehow viciously murdered in the night?"

The drunk pretended not to hear, wine dribbling down his beard.

Laurent leaned to him slightly. "The reason I ask is because I am, in fact, a vampire, and I'd rather not kill anyone of any consequence. If you know what I mean."

The drunk rocked back and forth, his grimy eyes cutting about.

"Well," Laurent said. "You seem wretched enough, at any rate. Terrible depths I've sunk to, hm? Do you know I turned down three brunettes and a blonde to get here tonight? It's this infernal conscience that has come to plague me in these latter years. It insists upon the lesser evil, and here I am about to sink my fangs into the loathsome flesh of a wretch such as yourself. It seems we're both creatures to be pitied. What do you think, my friend?"

The drunk whined and whimpered. "Didn't do it," he blubbered.

Laurent smiled and clapped his hand on the drunk's shoulder like an old friend. The drunk cried out and started chanting idiotically. "You know," Laurent said. "We're not so different, you and I. The way we cling to drink as a means to sustain our, shall we say, questionable existences. Of course my existence has been and will be much longer than your own, but more's the pity if you ask me. I've lived two whole centuries and I still miss the old days. I used to be a pirate, you know. Had a ship of my own. She was called the Blushing Mermaid and she was a beauty. Time does fly, doesn't it?"

The drunk was muttering to himself balefully.

Laurent laughed. "But I can see I'm boring you," he said. He stood and dusted his hands on his pants. "Come," he said, gesturing to the station archways. "Let me buy you a drink. We'll toast to better days and better ways and then, perhaps, you'll offer me a drink yourself."

The drunk eyed him suspiciously. He seemed to understand the word drink. He lurched to his feet and staggered forward and Laurent steadied him by the arm and led him out into the rain, into the night.

# # #

In the morning Bella and Alice huddled before an ATM under the yellow umbrella. Bella inserted a card and punched in some numbers. She had to talk loudly over the rain. "This account gives up ten thousand dollars every twenty four hours," she said, as the money came spewing from the chute. "Stick with me long enough and I'll have one set up for you too."

"Where does the money come from?"

Bella didn't answer. She folded some of the bills and handed them to Alice and pocketed the rest. "Let's go," she said, and stepped out into the rain with Alice trotting after her with the umbrella.

They took a cab to the mall. Alice sat in the backseat counting her money. Bella glanced at the rearview and saw the driver look away quickly. It was her red eyes that disconcerted him.

Before anything they went to the optometrist. Alice perused a rack of sunglasses and Bella handed across the counter a prescription for contact lenses. They went to the bathroom and stood at the mirror pulling down their eyelids and touching the lenses to their pupils. Bella's were brown, almost the same as her natural color, and Alice's were violet.

"Do you think violet's okay?" Alice asked, batting her eyelids at her reflection. "It's not too exotic?"

"It doesn't matter as long as it's natural," Bella said. She let down her eyelid and blinked. She looked at Alice in the mirror. "How do they feel? When you're human it takes time to get used to them."

Alice closed her eyes and opened them again. "I think they'll be okay."

They spent the morning and some of the afternoon shopping for various necessities. Bella bought a new hoody and some baggy jeans and a pair of men's work boots in the smallest size they had and Alice found a pair of beige slacks she liked and she got a belt to match and a couple tops as well. They got changed in the change rooms and threw their old clothes in the trash. They went on through the mall and after a while Bella noticed Alice wasn't following her anymore. She turned back and found the vampire examining shoes in a display window. They went in and Alice bought some heels and a pair of knee-high boots that had heels on them too. She stood with one jean leg rolled up and her toe out to examine the sandal she wore and she asked Bella her opinion but Bella only told her to hurry up. They left the shoe shop and wound up in a boutique where Bella stood by the counter tapping her foot while Alice sat on a stool and had an animated conversation with the salesgirl about a particular soap. They bought some makeup and a few other cosmetics and they were offered complimentary facials but Bella said they had to go.

Back at the hotel they dumped the shopping bags on the floor. "You know," Alice said. "When I said I wanted to be your partner I had no idea it would be this much fun."

"You get sick of it eventually," Bella said. "I hate buying new stuff every city I go."

"I don't think I'd ever get sick of shopping."

Bella didn't comment. She went over to the window and looked out.

Alice smiled. "So," she said. "What now, boss?"

By dark they were back on the streets. It was still raining and they stood on the corner under the yellow umbrella and watched the nightclub across the street. Bella was leaning against the streetlamp and Alice was bobbing to the music that they could hear thumping even over the rain. They watched the cars pass in the street and the people lined up under the awning. Off by the service entrance two waitresses in black blouses stood smoking idly. They waited and after a while they saw the vampires come out, James and Victoria, together with a human brunette.

"There they are," Bella said.

Alice's brow furrowed. "They have someone with them."

The vampires led the woman by the hand out into the rain. She giggled and twirled on the spot as the water darkened her hair and soaked her clothes.

"I wonder why the third one isn't here," Alice said.

Bella shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe he's not hungry."

The vampire's paused before crossing the street. The woman was swaying slightly as if drunk and James leaned in and kissed her and then Victoria pulled her away and kissed her too and woman giggled and then they went on.

"Come on," Bella said. "Let's follow them."

"Okay."

"And put the umbrella away. It sticks out too much."

They followed them back to a house in the suburbs. It was a short walk, Bella and Alice following at a distance, keeping to the shadows. The house was a simple two bedroom, practically identical to any other house on either side of the street. Bella and Alice watched from the corner as the vampires and their prey climbed the steps to the front door. When they were inside Alice opened the umbrella again and held it over their heads even though they were already drenched.

"The house is registered to some woman," Bella said. "She hasn't been to work in over a month so I'm guessing she's dead. No family, no close friends. The vampires'll probably move on as soon as the next electricity bill is due, so we'll have to hit them soon."

Alice looked at her anxiously. "Why not now?"

"What's the rush?"

"You saw them with that girl. Are we just going to let them kill her?"

"What else can we do?"

"We could save her. We could do it right now."

"It's too late for her. Venom in the saliva takes longer to work through the system than in the blood but she's still as good as dead. Or worse."

Alice frowned. She was holding the handle of the umbrella with both hands like a little girl and her face was wet.

"We'll hit them in a couple days before they feed again," Bella said. "But I'm not doing anything without a plan. Just because the targets are low caliber there's no reason to get sloppy."

.

The front door opened into the living room. Laurent was lounging on the sofa when the drunk woman came stumbling in, grinning and giggling, James and Victoria right behind her. The TV was on and there was a cat asleep in a basket in the corner of the room and another cat asleep on his lap. There was a quilted rug under the coffee table and quilted cushions on the sofa. It looked like an old woman's house. Laurent watched the woman curiously.

"Oh," the drunk woman said, seeing him there. "Hi."

Laurent nodded affably, petting the cat on his lap. "Good evening," he said.

Victoria sauntered up and took the woman's arm. "Brittney, this is our roommate Laurent," she said, motioning to him with a wave of her hand. "Laurent, this is Brittney."

"Delighted, I'm sure," Laurent said. "Brittany, was it?"

"That's me," chirped the woman. "I'm an actress."

"Indeed? How interesting."

Laurent shared a look with James and James smirked. "Victoria," he said. "Why don't you and Brittney get started without me? I'll be right behind you."

Brittney giggled drunkenly. "I've never done it with a girl before."

Victoria smiled and started down the corridor, tugging her prey by the hand. "Don't worry," she said. "I won't bite."

Laurent turned his head to watch them go. The cat on his lap raised up to watch them go too before settling back down. "A fine catch," Laurent said to James. "You are to be commended, my friend."

James tossed his chin. "What about you?" he said. "You want in?"

"Tempting, but you three make such a charming trio I think the mood might be ruined by admitting a forth."

"You sure? There's plenty to go around. Victoria doesn't mind sharing, and I'm sure the cats can spare you for an hour or two."

Laurent chuckled and stroked the cat on his lap. "You're a devil, James," he said. "But I'm perfectly happy where I am, thank you."

"Whatever you say," James said, and then he disappeared down the corridor.

Laurent turned back to the TV. He sat watching and after a while he could hear screaming coming from the bedroom in the back. At first it sounded like screams of pleasure. Then it sounded like screams of pain. Then the screaming stopped.

# # #

Bella and Alice monitored the vampires for the next few days. Bella bought a used car out the newspaper and they spent the nights parked down the street from the vampires hideout, watching the house. James and Victoria often left and arrived together but Laurent seemed to prefer to pursue his obscure missions in solitude. They followed him one night on one of his evening strolls. They followed in the car at a distance until he ended up outside a movie theater where he stood perusing the posters. They pulled over and watched him buy a ticket and join the line. There was a woman behind him but he didn't take any notice of her. She noticed him, however, and after a few minutes she tapped on his shoulder and smiled and gestured at one of the posters on the wall in an effort to start a conversation. The woman was perhaps thirty years old and she wore a grey coat and a green scarf and she wasn't pretty but not ugly either. Laurent looked at her and at first he seemed to demure. He didn't seem interested. But the woman tried again and she said something that made him smile and he said something back that made her laugh and the line moved on and they shuffled forward and by the time they entered the theater they were chatting quite cordially.

Bella and Alice watched from the car across the street through the rain blurred windshield. Neither spoke. They sat there until the movie was over and when the vampire and the woman came out the woman was holding his arm and laughing. They stood under the awning for a moment and spoke for a bit and after a while the vampire gave her a little bow and went to leave. But the woman seemed unable to part from his company. She gestured to a car parked on the curb and the vampire paused to ruminate. Then he nodded. The woman smiled. They both got into the car and the car started and the headlights flickered to life and they drove away. Bella turned the key and followed.

They wound up in a parking lot outside a restaurant about a couple blocks from the theater. Perhaps the woman had invited him for a drink. Bella and Alice pulled up at the curb and sat watching the other car. No one got out. The car sat there in the rain with the headlights off. It was dark and at a glance it looked like the car was as empty as any other car in the lot. Then it shuddered. As if there were a struggle inside. The whole car rocked on its wheels, once, twice, then it was still. A minute later the vampire got out the passenger side and stood there for a moment before lifting his face to the sky for the rain to wash away the blood from his mouth.

Bella and Alice were silent. They watched through the blurry windshield as the vampire strolled away down the sidewalk. The rain pattered softly on the roof of the car. Alice looked at Bella and said: "You said we were going to stop them before they hurt anyone else."

Bella didn't answer. She started the car and pulled away.

They drove in silence. Alice gazed out the window with troubled eyes, watching the cars, the streetlamps. "I don't understand what we're doing," she said. "We could've stopped him. It wouldn't even have been a risk."

"And what would the other vampires think when their little friend didn't show up home tonight?"

Alice didn't reply.

"Our priority is the elimination of the targets," Bella said. "All of the targets. Picking them off one by one is the same as letting them know we're coming. It gives them the opportunity to prepare. Or disappear. And I don't want them doing either of those things, do you?"

"Of course not. But I can't just stand by and watch innocent people get killed."

Bella glanced at her. She looked back at the road. "You'll get over it," she said.

.

The next morning Alice was reading the newspaper in the hotel dining room. The tablecloth was spotless white and there was a tulip in a vase and an unlit candlestand in the center of it. Alice sat with the chair out slightly, her legs crossed, holding the paper with both hands. A cup of coffee and a plate of strawberry toast sat untouched before her. She was reading an article about a string of murders, all the bodies found dumped with similar bite marks. Some of them sexually molested. All women, all young. No suspects.

An old woman went by wearing a fancy black hat and a row of pearls and she happened to glance over and see the headline. "Oh it's ghastly those murders, isn't it?"

Alice lowered the paper. "Excuse me?"

"Those murders," the woman said, jabbing her walkingstick at the paper. "Absolutely ghastly. You know, if my driver wasn't an ex-navy SEAL I think I'd be too afraid to go at night."

The woman was old and fat and she had a blotchy complexion and hair on her chin. She didn't quite fit the profile of the other victims but Alice didn't say so. She smiled and said: "Yes, I know what you mean."

"You ought to be careful, young lady," the old woman said, shaking her head. "Absolutely ghastly." Then she waddled off.

Alice watched her go. She turned back to the paper but she didn't feel like reading anymore. She folded it and set it beside her plate. She picked up a wedge of strawberry toast and held it to her nose and inhaled. Then she put it back on the plate sadly. Outside it was still raining and there'd been an article in the paper about that too.

.

There was an old abandoned factory in a remote part of town and Bella drove there in the afternoon, her backpack on the passenger seat beside her. She pulled up at the side entrance beside a stack of pine slats and got out and slung the backpack over her shoulder and went wandering inside. There was no one about. Rain leaked from the skylights and the place smelt of grease and mould and a large rat scurried over a conveyer belt as she approached. There was a glass beer bottle on the ground. Bella bent and picked it up. The label was faded and half peeled. She threw it at the rusty sheetiron wall behind her where it shattered loudly and then she stood listening for anything that might follow the sound. But there was nothing. The place was secure.

She put the backpack on the dusty conveyer belt and unzipped it. She took out the shotgun and a magazine. She had reloaded the empty magazine earlier with ordinary buckshot for target practice and she fitted it in and checked the breech. Next she took out a silencer from the backpack and screwed it into the bore. It was homemade, the silencer, fashioned from a hairspray can painted black and packed with fiberglass roofing insulation. It added about a foot to the total length of the shotgun and when she had the whole thing assembled she hefted it in her hands and looked about.

Throughout the factory there were large support beams. Reinforced concrete columns. Bella took a piece of chalk from her back pocket and drew a circle on one of them. Then she walked away thirty paces and turned and raised the shotgun. The first blast scoured away the paint and left a bunch of grey pockmarks. The silencer dampened the blast but it was still loud. It sounded like hitting something wooden with a hammer. She fired again. Every buckshot hit within the circle and concretedust sifted from the holes. She fired again and again and when she had spent the entire magazine she lowered the weapon and came forward to examine her work. She touched the ruined concrete with her fingertips. Not a single shot had went astray.

.

Tonight was the night.

They took turns in the shower and when Alice got out she found Bella sitting on the bed with a cloth spread before her and all her weapons lying on it dissembled. They were both wearing white bathrobes and Alice's was clean but Bella's was smeared with gunblack. The curtains in the room were closed but you could hear the rain. Alice went over and sat on the edge of the bed. She took up the silenced pistol and turned it in her hand. She flicked the safety on and off like a toy. "This wouldn't hurt a vampire," she said.

Bella took it from her and set it on the cloth. "Who said it's for vampires?"

That night they got dressed in typical clubware. They did their hair. They put in their contact lenses. Alice stood at the bathroom mirror and painted her pursed lips a delicate shade of pink. Bella stood behind her watching her reflection.

"You sure you wanna do this?" Bella asked. "It's not easy being the honeypot. It's more distasteful than you'd think."

Alice painted her lips.

Bella went on. "It'll be easier to just wait at their place and ambush them when they get back. Wouldn't even have to dress up."

Alice capped the gloss and looked at Bella in the mirror. "I told you," she said. "I can't stand by and watch innocent people die. I'd rather be the honeypot than let them walk out of that club with another victim."

Downstairs in the hotel lobby they paused to examine a glass display case of ridiculously overpriced jewelry. They drove to the club through the rain and Alice tilted the rearview to her and put on the earrings they'd just bought. They were diamond and sparkly and they jiggled from her earlobes as she cocked her head to examine her reflection. It almost looked like a different girl in the mirror there. Violet eyes. Pale cheeks falsely brightened with blush. Alice noticed Bella glance at her. Then she turned back to the road.

They pulled up outside the club and got out. The line was long and the music was thumping. The vampires were already inside. Bella and Alice scampered across the street in the rain and but instead of joining the line they went around the side to the service entrance. Out in the alleyway there they paused under the umbrella among the puddles and trashcans and Bella reached into her backpack and retrieved a small perfume bottle. "Here," she said, handing it to Alice.

"What is it?" Alice asked. She held the little bottle in both hands. The liquid was pink and there was no label. She sniffed at the nozzle and recoiled sharply. "Wow," she said, leaning eagerly to sniff again. "What is this?"

"It's a pheromone concentrate," Bella said. "It'll make you practically irresistible to vampires. Don't use too much."

Alice sprayed twice at her neck either side. "What does it smell like to humans?"

"It's a Chanel base."

"Seriously?" 

"Yeah," Bella said. She took the bottle back and sprayed herself twice in much the same manner. Then she replaced the bottle into the backpack and set the backpack behind a dumpster and covered it with a trashcan lid. "Let's go."

.

James and Victoria were dancing. The dancefloor was crowded and their pale faces flickered bluely in the laserlight. Victoria grinded up against her mate and touched his cheek. They looked into each other's eyes. "Sometimes I wish all I needed was you," she said softly. James leaned in and kissed her.

.

Bella and Alice stood in line. Every now and then they shuffled forward. The rain splashed in the streets and people stood around hugging themselves against the cold. Neither Bella nor Alice wore a jacket and yet neither seemed cold either. The line moved forward and they moved with it.

"Focus on the blonde and the redhead," Bella was saying. "They're our best bet."

"Okay."

"I'll be keeping an eye on you so if anything goes wrong just give me the signal."

"Okay."

"If I see the signal I'll step in and extract you and we'll go to plan B."

"Okay."

"If everything goes according to plan they'll take us back to their place. From there we simply take em out. All three. Quickly and quietly."

"Okay."

"Got it?"

"Got it."

The line moved. They moved with it.

.

The vampires noticed them moments after they walked in. From the dancefloor in each other's arms they looked through a part in the dancers and saw them sitting on stools in the blue glow of the neonbar. Alice wore hipster jeans and a pink haltertop and pink sandals which showed her pink painted toenails. Bella wore a black cocktail dress and black stilettos, one long leg crossed over the other, the ivory lengths of them glowing pale blue in the neonlight. Two almost empty martini glasses sat before them and they were both glancing over their shoulders at the dancefloor. James and Victoria watched them.

"Mmm," Victoria said. "I can smell them from here."

James smirked. "Which one do you want?"

.

"Here they come," Bella said. She took up her martini glass and drained the last drop and set it back on the bar. "Whoever they pick, just go with it."

Alice looked nervous. She had her hands folded in her lap and she was watching the vampires approach in the mirror behind the bar. "Okay."

.

Laurent sat alone his usual table overlooking the dancefloor with his usual untouched glass of wine. The music thumped and thumped. He swirled his wine vaguely. He looked over the balcony and saw James and Victoria leading two young women by the hand out onto the floor. Victoria's target was dressed in a short and tight black dress and James's was dressed in jeans and a halter. They both had dark hair, one short, one long. They were both beautiful. He watched them all start dancing and then he turned to his wine. When he looked up again he caught sight of a trio of similarly clad young women sitting in a booth across the aisle from his table. They were smiling and giggling and drinking. Laurent watched them for a moment before dipping his eyes to the wine. He took a sip and winced as if it were painful to him.

.

Bella was dancing with Victoria. They drew looks and stares from the other dancers, partly because they were both female, partly because they danced immodestly, and partly because they simply made a sexy couple. They were of similar height and their hair was same the length and same style, long and wavy, Bella's black, Victoria's red, and they wore similar dresses, cocktail dresses that had about the same coverage as towels worn after a shower, Bella in black and Victoria in red, their legs long and bare beneath the hems and their breasts swelling from the necklines. The dance wasn't slow but they moved slowly, a sultry shuffle of stilettos, touching each other at the waist and shoulder, gazing into each other's eyes. They danced, and Victoria slid the spaghetti strap from Bella's shoulder and kissed the spot where it was and slid the strap back up. The vampire whispered in her ear: "Why don't we go someplace more private?"

Bella glanced at where Alice was dancing with James. Alice looked troubled but she didn't give the signal. Bella turned back to Victoria. "Soon," she said. "Besides, I wouldn't want my friend to feel left out."

Victoria pouted playfully and brushed Bella's cheek with the backs of her fingers. "As you wish," she said. "I suppose I can wait, considering how utterly delectable you both promise to be."

.

Alice was dancing with James and already she was having second thoughts. She could feel his hands clamped at her waist from behind and she was grinding back against him in the way she'd seen other women do with their partners and his hands were firm and uncomfortable. He leaned in and bit her ear and she almost squirmed in disgust. She turned around and he kept his hands locked at her waist. The vampire's eyes had been bright bloodred when he'd first approached but now they were a deep dark burgundy. He gazed into her face intensely. "Open your mouth," he said.

Alice's expression trembled. "What?"

"I said open your mouth."

Alice looked at where Bella was dancing with the other one. Their eyes met briefly and then Alice turned back to the vampire and parted her lips. He smirked and leaned in and slipped his tongue between them. Alice almost whimpered. She couldn't do this. She thought she could but she couldn't. With the vampire's tongue in her mouth she sought Bella with her eyes and gave the signal.

.

Victoria leaned in and kissed Bella hungrily. Bella didn't close her eyes. They darted to the left where Alice was in a similar predicament with James and as soon as their eyes met Alice started tapping her elbow like a baseball coach signaling to the pitcher from the dugout.

So much for the plan.

Bella pushed Victoria back. "I've got to go," she said. "I just remembered something."

Victoria looked stunned. "What?"

Bella didn't answer. She was already weaving through the other dancers toward Alice. Victoria frowned and hurried after.

Bella grabbed Alice's hand and pulled her away from James, practically tearing their faces apart. James turned on her with a crimson glare.

"Something came up," Bella said. "We've got to go."

Alice shifted closer to Bella. Victoria sauntered up.

"You know," James said. He reached out very deliberately and took Alice's hand. "I think you're friend is quite happy right here."

Bella didn't let go of Alice's hand but then the vampire tugged harder and his eyes went colder. Bella let the hand slip and Alice moved indecisively back to James.

Victoria had her arms folded under her breasts, glaring from one to the other. All four of them standing motionless on the dancefloor in the flickering light.

"And even is she wasn't," James said to Bella. "She's not going anywhere."

Bella's face was impassive. She looked at Alice. She looked at James and Victoria. Then she snorted and shook her head. "I'm going to get a drink," she said, and without further comment she stalked off to the bar.

James and Victoria exchanged a look. Alice watched Bella go.

.

Bella stepped up to the bar and placed both hands on it palms down. In the blue neon uplight her face looked deadly calm. There were two men either side of her, one with a scotch, one with a beer. She turned to the one with the beer. "Hey," she said. "You got a cigarette lighter I can borrow?"

The man looked her over. As if her appearance had some bearing on whether not he did indeed posses a lighter. "Yeah, sure," he said. He took a brass Zippo from his pocket and hand it over. "So can I buy you a drink?"

Bella didn't answer. She tucked the lighter into the bosom of her dress—much to the man's surprise—and then she boosted herself onto the bar and swung her legs over and hopped down on the other side. The barman was a big guy in a tight black t-shirt and he turned to her glaring. "Hey," he shouted over the music. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Bella ignored him too. She examined the shelves of alcohol for a moment and then she took a bottle of vodka and a bottle of tequila and she tucked one of them under her arm and boosted herself back over the bar and strode back onto the dancefloor.

The barman looked at the man with the beer who'd been watching curiously. The man shrugged. "She ain't with me," he said.

One of the bouncers was looking over. The barman nodded at him and tossed his head where the thief had gone. The bouncer went after her.

.

Alice was dancing between James and Victoria, both of them holding her tight and grinding against her. All pretence at seduction had been dropped and the vampire's leered at her cruelly. "It's a shame about your friend," Victoria whispered in her ear. "But maybe we'll come back for her when we're done with you."

"Please," Alice said.

James lifted his hand to her slender neck and pressed his thumb against her windpipe. "Don't even think about making a scene," he said. "Or you'll be dead before the scream even leaves your throat."

Alice looked away. Through a part in the dancers she could see Bella coming toward them.

.

Bella wove among the dancers with a bottle dangling in each hand. She reached James first and backhanded one of the bottles across the back of his head. The bottle shattered and liquor sprayed. Both Alice and Victoria jumped back in surprise and James turned to Bella. Bella dropped the jagged bottleneck and pitched the other bottle into her right hand in a roadagents pass and reared back and shattered it against his chest. James didn't budge. He smirked, weathering the blows like some comicbook superhero. He was soaked in alcohol. "Stupid girl," he said. "Now you die."

A ring of spectators had formed. They gasped and pointed. Bella fished the cigarette lighter from her bosom and flipped it open and rolled the flint with her thumb to spark a flame. "No," she said. "Now _you_ die."

A flicker of doubt passed over his face but as usual it came too late. Bella tossed the lighter at him. There was a low whoosh audible even over the thump of music and James screamed. The flames were blue and almost invisible in the dark. He screamed and flailed and thrashed at himself like a woman afraid of a bee and then he fell over. He fell over and curled up like a dead spider and disintegrated into ash, leaving nothing more than a black smear on the polished dancefloor.

"James!" Victoria shrieked.

.

Laurent was on his feet. The chair scraped back and fell over. He leaned on the railing and watched his friend burn up on the dancefloor and watched his mate scream his name. He looked down at the woman in the black dress and his brow twitched. As if he'd just recognized her. Then he stepped back and shook his head and hurried for the exit.

.

Victoria let loose a feral scream and launched herself at Bella.

But she never made it. Alice took her hand and twirled her back in the manner of a dancestep and then she took a handful of her hair and stepped onto her toes and bit into her neck in lethal parody of a kiss. Victoria's eyes widened as her flesh was pierced. So far none of the spectators had screamed. Some had hurried away for the exits but the other's stood around watching and beyond the ring of spectators all the other clubbers were still dancing, still drinking. A bouncer came up behind Bella and put a hand on her shoulder. She turned and kicked him in the groin. Alice's teeth tore into Victoria's neck and Victoria writhed and clutched at Alice's hair. Alice held firm and sucked at the wound. As the blood seeped into her mouth Victoria's face grayed. The writhing slowed and her hands came loose and flopped to her sides. Her eyes were glazing. "James," she whispered.

Alice let her go. Victoria slumped against her lifelessly and slid to the floor. She bled for a bit more and then she passed on into ash as her mate had done before her.

The spectators watched open mouthed. The bouncer was on the floor groaning. Alice met Bella's eyes in the flickering blue light. "Let's go," Bella said.

.

They left by the service entrance. Bella grabbed her backpack from behind the dumpster and by the time they made it to the car their hair was damp from the rain. They drove in silence listening to the rain on the roof and the squeak of the windshield wipers. Alice sat hugging her middle, her head bowed. Bella glanced at her but said nothing. She turned back to the road and stepped on the gas.

"It's a long shot but we'll try and intercept the other one at the house," Bella said. "If he has any brains at all he'll just disappear, but if he comes back we'll be waiting."

They parked a block away from the house and approached on foot. The backpack was unzipped and Bella had her hand in it clutching the shotgun. It looked like there was a baseball bat in there. They came dashing over the sidewalk in their clubware, moving low and fast through the rain. No lights were on at the house. Bella leaned to one of the front windows using her hand as a visor. She tried the front door but it was locked. They went around the back and entered through the kitchen. The sound of the rain softened as she closed the door with a soft click. They stood listening. Bella took the shotgun from the backpack and put the backpack on the kitchen table. It already had the silencer fitted on it. She opened the refrigerator door and looked in. Everything moldy. She closed the door and motioned for Alice to follow.

They passed under the archway and came to a corridor and through to the living room. Bella swept the place with her shotgun. There was a cat in a basket and when it saw her it rose up bristling. Bella ignored it. There was a fireplace and Bella noticed three duffelbags thrown beside it. Probably the vampire's traveling bags but there wasn't time to look.

They went down the corridor soundlessly. Bella stopped and opened a door. A bedroom. The covers were thrown aside and the mattress was covered in blood that had dried and cracked along the edges. Alice pushed past Bella and looked at the enormous bloodstain sadly. She turned away.

All the other rooms were empty. At the end of the hall there was a door that opened to a set of steps that led down. It was pitch black, a sour reek ascending. Bella pulled the lightchain and a naked globe in the ceiling flickered to life. They went down the stairs, Bella in front with the shotgun up. In the cellar there was another refrigerator against the wall. A washing machine, a dryer. And sprawled on the floor was the corpse of the house's former owner. A middle-aged woman wearing slippers and a robe. She'd been dead a long time and she was purple and bloated and foul smelling. The vampire's hadn't even fed from her. They'd broken her neck and she lay twisted on the concrete with her eyes open and flies clambering over her shrunken eyeballs.

"Oh god," Alice said.

Bella glanced at her. She didn't say anything.

They went back up stairs and checked all the rooms again. There was no sign that the remaining vampire had been back. They went into the living room and Bella sat on the sofa with the shotgun in her lap. The catbasket was empty. Alice stood for a moment looking around as if she'd forgotten something and then she took a seat next to Bella.

.

Laurent returned home afoot, traveling by alleyways and side streets to throw any pursuers. When he got back to the house he took the doorknob in his hand and pushed it open gently. He didn't have a key and the lock splintered. He went in and closed the door. He took one step down the corridor and paused. He sniffed. He turned to the left and looked through the archway into the living room and saw the two girls from the club sitting on the sofa. Bella had the shotgun laid on the armrest pointing at him. Laurent bowed his head and sighed. Then he walked in.

Bella turned the shotgun to follow him. Alice watched him.

"I spent some time among the Volturi some years ago," Laurent said. "They spoke of a woman with dark hair and pale skin. A human. A slayer of vampires. They called her The Huntress. It's you, isn't it?"

Bella didn't reply.

Laurent smiled. "I must say, you've aged remarkably well. That was decades ago, when I first heard of you."

"Why did you come back?" Bella asked. "You must've suspected I'd be here."

"To say goodbye to the cats, of course."

Neither smiled.

Laurent chuckled. "Actually," he said. "I have a keepsake that I'd be loath to leave behind. I couldn't very well move on without it."

"A keepsake."

Laurent gestured at the duffelbags by the fireplace. "May I?"

"Go ahead."

Laurent squatted at one of the bags and opened it. He took out something wrapped in a white cloth and rose. For a moment he caressed the cloth fondly and then he unwrapped it and let the cloth fall. In his hand he held an antique flintlock pistol with a brass inlay. "It's a memento from my human years," he said, holding it in both hands. "From my days as a pirate."

Alice glanced at Bella. She looked at Laurent. "Can I see?" she asked.

Laurent handed it to her butt first. Alice took it and held it in her lap. She turned it over, examining both sides.

"That was the pistol," Laurent said, " that my crew left me in the spring of 1786 when they mutinied and marooned me on a desert island. Fortunately a Spanish frigate picked me up the very next day, so I wasn't obliged to use it."

There was an inscription on the buttplate. It was Latin. "_Memento Mori_," Alice read aloud. She smiled softly and handed it back. "Poetic."

"Yes, I thought so."

"You've got your keepsake," Bella said. "So now it's time to move on."

Laurent was looking at the pistol in his hands. He didn't look up "I'm not in the habit of begging for my life," he said. "But I don't suppose there's any chance you'd let me go?"

"I don't think so."

"Would it have any bearing to you if I said I'm not as bad as the other two?"

"No."

Laurent sighed and looked out the window. It was still raining.

"Well," he said. "It had to happen sometime."

Alice frowned. Almost sadly.

"Do you have any last words?" Bella asked.

Laurent shook his head. He smiled. "Last words are only words."

Bella nodded. Then she shot him. The flintlock fell soundlessly to the carpet and it's owner these two-hundred years was ferried from the world in a roar of fire and fluttering of ash.

# # #

They drove to the park. There was a lake with a bridge spanning its width and Bella and Alice were standing in the center. Soaked with rain, Bella in her dress, Alice in her halter. Bella dissembled the shotgun and threw it piece by piece into the black waters below. Then she dissembled the pistol and threw that in too. She zipped up the backpack, slung it over her shoulder, and leaned back against the bridgerail.

"I'll have to resupply before my next job," she said. "Which means now's the time to decide if you want to back out."

"I'm sorry I screwed up the plan," Alice said. "But at least we saved someone else from getting killed tonight."

"And what if the vampire hadn't come back to the house? We probably never would've found him and he would've went on killing people for another couple hundred years."

Alice lowered her head.

Bella studied her. "Look," she said. "All that's beside the point, anyway. If you want to be my partner, you're gonna have to stop thinking of yourself as a hero. Because we're not heroes. We're hunters. Do you understand?"

"I just wish we could have saved the others, that's all."

Bella shook her head. She looked up at the sky but there was nothing to see. Just the blackness from which the rain kept falling and falling. She looked at Alice. "What did that phrase mean?" she asked. "The Latin on the vampire's pistol?"

"_Memento Mori_," Alice said. "It means remember mortality. The legend goes that there was a roman general who was supposed to be invincible and to ward off over-confidence he had a slave who's only purpose in life was to follow him around and repeat the phrase to him every now and then. To remind him that he was just a man and not a god. That he would die one day."

"That is poetic."

Alice smiled. She moved next to her partner and leaned on the bridgerail right beside her. "Can I stay with you?"

Bella looked at her. The rain ran down their faces and dripped from their chins. "Yeah," she said. "You can stay with me."

# # #


End file.
